The Misadventures of the pokemon -Sawada Tsunayoshi (He's no Tuna)
by NuttersAscend
Summary: Sawada Tsunayoshi finds himself reborn as a pokemon when he carelessly ended up daring Kawahira to make his gaming experiences more 'immersive'.You know what they say- be careful what you wish for. Now Tsuna must venture deep into the world of pokemon, all from Hoenn to get acquainted with his new doesn't help that he became *that* pokemon- he's always been fate's toy.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Carp's are better than Tuna's right?**

Sawada Tsunayoshi, a brunette with soft, fluffy, gravity-defying hair lounged around lackadaisically as his eyes didn't even drift off from his handheld console, his mind intent on raising his team to beat the elite four.

His visitor, the closest thing to a god in his universe, didn't look impressed at the show of hospitability. The white-haired antique shop keeper crossed his arms and tapped his feet, prompting the other to slowly glance right at him.

"You know Tsunayoshi-kun, it wouldn't hurt for you to pause that game of yours and listen to what a guest has in store for you. That one is a turn based rpg game anyway, right?

I have a feeling you wouldn't be this lethargic if it was your tutor who came in to check on you right now."

"That's the reason why I have this very little and precious free time, Kawahira-san! No Reborn to shoot me into doing his every errand, no homework, no training sessions and no dangerous situation.

Life's good for this brief respite, so lemme be with my darling DS will you? We've been separated for far too long... so long that we'd give Romeo and Juliet a run for their money."

Kawahira rolled his eyes at the melodrama put on by the teen. He continued,

"I wonder where the Tsunayoshi-kun that looked upon me in awe and reverence, cautious and terrified went? You even called me the literal manifestation of God didn't you?"

"Well yeah. You can do some crazy things in reality. But its a whole other thing with games right?

I bet you can't make this game more immersive if you tried. After all, it was purely human genius that's propelled technology this far.

Right now at least, I'm just trying to play the games I've put off because of Reborn. I dunno when another opportunity like this will come by."

Kawahira came closer, his smile thinly veiling his irritation at being subtly mocked like that.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, I doubt that kind of issue is any challenge for a being like me. I'm sure I can grant that request for you, and quite easily at that."

"Eh~? I wasn't really challenging you or anything Kawahira-san. Besides modding the game would require - what did he say again? oh right- technological development? Hayato told me about the difficulty of porting old games into newer models to revamp the experience.

I, uh, doubt you have the expertise for that given your, uh, history? I mean isn't there a, uh, generation gap? A particularly huge one in your case..."

"...I can see why Reborn hovers around you to keep in you in check.

Tsunayoshi-kun... you see, being a god means you don't have to play by the rules to get what you want. And trust me, I can give you a far better immersive experience than you've ever imagined."

The taunted Checkerface chuckled darkly, his irritation at being implied to being too old to know what's cool made him extra eager at proving the child wrong.

And with a poof, Sawada Tsunayoshi vanished from the universe, his existence became removed from the future timelines.

"Au revoir, Tsunayoshi-kun. Bon Voyage~"

Then a thought popped into the God's mind.

"Oh, I've been a tad too hasty. I can't believe I let my emotions get the better of me. Whoops, didn't the kid have a lot of people who tangled their future with his?

Uh, maybe I'll just go into hiding for a bit; at least until things settle down."

* * *

Sawada Tsunayoshi woke up to a bright light and saw remants of a shell vaporizing into thin air. He couldn't feel his limbs, but when he wriggled around, he saw traces of red. He felt the familiar mane of hair but it didn't brush against the surface like a paintbrush but felt more... fins?

Feeling the first bit of panic, his mouth inevitably let out a shriek... that ended up sounding suspiciously like... MAGIKARP?! First Dame-Tsuna, and now- Magikarp?! Why was his life such a joke of an entertainment for fate?!

He panicking-ly flopped about, cursing the air resistance, and made his first Splash. It did

nothing.

He needed to see his reflection ASAP. Luckily, the body of water was not far from where he was. After minutes of crawling around the moist sand, he decided that he needed a better way of travel.

He hoisted himself by pushing down onto the ground- another splash- but this one made him jump a feet into air. It was liberating. The air was pushing right into him. He was covering a large amount of distance. The wind was blowing into his fins and the zooming out scenary was a sight to look at.

He felt enlightened. He now understood why Magikarps splash so much. This was amazing. He wanted to splash some more. He had been so blind before. His life instantly brightened up, he felt a field of meadows popped up in his mind as he could now splash amongst the flowers.

Splash is love, Splash is life.

Why didn't he do this before? Why didn't Magikarps do this more?

Just then a Pidgeotto swooshed right next to him as it accurately hunted down a magikarp which was also flopping around next to him.

Oh...

That's why...

But that was his breathen! He couldn't leave his sibling to the Pidgeotto!

So he splashed higher to fall right onto his predator.

Unbeknownst to him, his posse of Magikarp babies from that cave had been captivated by his splashing skills as they admiringly watched him flop out of the cave, splashed to a foot in height and now broke it with a super high jump. It looked like it would reach 7 feet! That was the maximum a Magikarp could reach, but if this Magikarp could reach that in such a short time, they can splash higher!

They had been following the former brunette, and now with the last jump- they all deeply desired to emulate the Splash.

The Pidgeotto who felt a Magikarp ram into it, fumbled a bit by the unwanted surprise and dipped slightly lower- only to get rammed by a crowd of Magikarp who arbitrarily decided to make it the marker of their splash prowess.

It was a sight for sore eyes- a cloud of Magikarps!

The splash didn't hurt one bit, but the sudden impact, plus the weight of a school fish made the Pidgeotto loosen its grip over that Magikarp- no doubt, getting the shock of its life.

It was the next progression of the unlikely event- a rain shower of Magikarps.

They fell right into a river of some sorts, which was right next to a waterfall.

Since they were away from danger for the moment, Tsuna wanted to regroup and lay low for the moment, since it wouldn't be strange to find that Pidgeot looking for second blood, now that they've done that.

"Hey, guys. Let's find a rock to hide under. We've got to lose that Pidgeotto ASAP!" he shouted anxiously, as his body started floating in the direction of the stream. When he tried to swivel his way over to his group to have a meaningful discussion, he saw them looking awfully seriously at the waterfall.

"Huh? Is there a cave or something under that? If so, that's really great-" but just when relief was flooding into his system, the Magikarps started chanting "Karp Karp!" and started splashing onto the fall themselves. It seemed like they were trying to ride the waterfall... upwards... when the waterfall was crashing down on them... when their muscles were weak enough that they'd just float with the stream flow...

"Stop screwing around, you guys!" Tsuna started panicking when he saw that more and more Magikarp were getting interested in this flash challenge that these Magikarps implicitly decided.

"Karp Karp." they spouted as a bunch of them flashily tried falling head over heels over the high maintenance, hot and sexy waterfall.

They might as well paint themselves neon to attract that Pidgeotto! How did Magikarps survive this long?!

Just as he thought that a bunch of Pidgeotto perched onto the waterfall's rocky perches and merrily picked up the oblivious Magikarp that wouldn't leave the waterfall regardless of the suicidal level of difficulty that it became right now.

Tsuna felt the urge to grip his head on the oncoming slaught of headaches from the mess of a situation.

Then when he swiveveled around, he saw a Magikarp floating near to him. He hurriedly splashed into its sight, thinking that at least one took his warnings seriously.

"Thank goodness, at least one of you has some resemblance of sense. Could you help me convince them to stop it with the waterfall jumping/courting business?!" he was aware he sounded slightly hysterical, but meh, desperate times call for desparate measures.

"Karp Karp."- then as Tsuna pondered about the possible language gap that could have arised from his language that he aquired from his past life-

His neighboring Magikarp's eyes glinted at that approach and decided to... use his body as a launchpad to hoist itself further into the waterfall. It even showed him a look filled with mirth, condescendence, and pride for being this ingenious. The other Magikarps looked at the newcomer with awe and respect for achieving this feat, as they started splashing around in show of approval and praise- as the fish was merrily lodged high enough for a Pelipper to simply open its mouth and swallow it whole.

"Oh My God! If you have that level of intelligence couldn't you use it for something more worthwhile, like I dunno, being easy prey for all these Pidgeotto or helping me herd these idiots out of the scene!"

That loss of composure made his body fall completely under the control of the stream and he drifted away from the lot, onto to deeper territories.

When he calmed down, he realized that he'd strayed from his herd and became splashing around to reunite with them. Even if they were idiots, he couldn't help but worry for their survival.

Then he spotted traces of red and immediately became flopping towards it.

"You guys finally came out of there. Do me a favor and don't do that anymore, will you?!

Oh, uh, I mean. Karp Karp karp... karp?" he tried adding a worried intonation into his wordings to convey his worry.

'How do you even speak Magikarp? Is there some kind of parlance? Accent? Dialect?'

When he looked closer at the other party, he noticed that they were a bunch of Carvanhas looking at him strangely.

"Whoops, wrong person. My bad! I mean Karp Karp.

No no no no. I mean, Carvanha Vanha...?"

"Don't you pull that racist shit on me, you weirdo." one of the Carvanha said, feeling irritated.

"I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to... Wait...

You can understand me? Wait... you can speak in a way I can understand?"

Seeing that the Carvanha was about to blow her top, one of its buddies chose to mediate, saying,

"Now, now. Calm down a bit. That's a child you're dealing with. He doesn't know better.

Yes, child. We can talk. Look, aren't we having a conversation even now?"

"But those Magikarps were only saying 'Karp Karp' at me."

Seeing the amused look that the others were sporting now, Tsuna realized with dawning mortification.

"Those guys were screwing around me?! Well Karp Karp to them too!

I thought that they simply couldn't comprehend basic things with how insistent they seemed at that waterfall."

"Kid, that waterfall thing happens regularly. You just gotta get used to it. Magikarps are just weird like that.

In fact, you're the one who's strange for not participating in that." the piranha inspired pokemon said with a look of resignment.

"Leave me be, will you? Besides it's not even my fault for thinking that pokemon just say their name over and over again. I thought most of them said that when facing pokemon trainers."

"Those guys are hopeless cases. They can't even learn a simple word of our language. We've gotta make sure we mimic their tone and actions if they want to know anything from us. I guess it's the same for us, but some of us know how to speak human. Those guys are special cases though.

The ones who end up their pokemon end up having really fun battles and stuff, so it'd be fun to find a worthy trainer."

"...Say, how plausible is it for me to be a trainer myself? After all, the only thing which makes them trainers is that they've caught pokemon inside pokeballs, right?"

"You must be jokin-" "Go for it kid. Nothin's impossible!"

And thus, the more sane advice got eclipsed by the other carvanhas who thought that this could get really entertaining, really fast. Their curiosity-driven minds and their urge to unleash chaos, became a trigger for Tsunayoshi to leave the peaceful base of Fortree to try out a lot of crazy shit, in hopes of finding a way to return back to his old world.

'First things first, I need to go to the Petelburg Woods, since they'd have pokemon who I can battle against and gain exp.

That would need me to go to Mauvile, then Slateport, Dewford and finally to Petalburg... Is there a better way?'


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**The botched plan of action**

Tsuna had to make himself viable if he wanted to travel a good amount of distance. A low leveled Magikarp with only Splash is not going to cut it. If he fainted, he didn't know how to revive himself. He needed items like health potions, revives, X battle specials and preferably a focus band. He'd also have to train himself to a level where he could use flail...

Oh wait. Couldn't he just evolve into a Gyarados? That seems like a way better idea! Anyway, it was not like _nothing can stop him from leveling high enough to be one right? With his luck, he'd definitely achieve this goal, right? It was a relatively straight forward goal after all!_

Tsuna then got a second revelation. If he was going to be a Gyarados first, he'd not even learn flail, right?!

But something in his mind told him that flail and he would be very closely acquainted. But he chose to ignore that intuition ASAP. Hyper intuition? Pfft, what's that? Can you eat it?

First things first. He needed to get to the Fortree city and visit the pokemon center and the pokemon mart. He could get some of the stuff he needed to get from there. If he remembered correctly, they should not be in the trees and must be easily accessible via ground level.

Then it was settled. He needed to go there first! But how?

If he traveled there by flopping around, he might end up seeing some trainers or wild pokemon that become aggressive to him. It might take a long time too, and he didn't know what Magikarp ate. Berries should work, but he'd need to somehow find them en route... It's not like the path to the city didn't have berries- but he didn't know how much time it'd take to reach there.

The Carvanha looked at the pondering Magikarp and couldn't keep silence as their patience started weening out.

"Oi. What're you thinking so hard for?"

"Um... I'm just thinking about how to get to Fortree city. It seems like it'd be really difficult."

"Wait, you wanna head to Fortree?! What on earth for?"

"I'm planning on using that as a headstart to move around Hoenn..."

"Ain't you adventurous? I never heard a Magikarp say all that. So, what's the plan?" there was a deep amusement seated in their eyes. It was the curiosity of seeing a trainwreck fall into motion.

That friendly encouragement made Tsuna feel suspicious of this lot. Weren't Carvanhas supposed to be nastier? He thought they were the type to play dirty and act strong until the situation changes- then they turn tail and run.

In fact... Maybe he could use that?

"Say, are you interested in traveling the world with me?"

Are they interested in seeing how a mere Magikarp planned on traversing treacherous waters even with the added risk of getting involved in its mess? Definitely.

Were they planning on letting this stupid Magikarp die a gruesome death because it seems to be too overconfident for its own good while watching the show from a hidden corner? Absolutely.

Was there something they could gain from helping this Magikarp out? None whatsoever.

Was doing all this just to see something interesting worth it? Yup, it sure is.

Tsuna saw that the Carvanha were all aboard, and then spoke of his idea-

"You guys know Aqua Jet, right? Could you use it on one of the floating rocks I saw around here when I'm on it? It could lodge me on top of the waterfall-"

They immediately showed the Magikarp an unimpressed look. Hearing the magic last words from a distance- like a trigger, countless of Magikarps rushed to the source of the sound, excitement filling their beady eyes.

"Hey, it's not for the stupid waterfall climbing thing-"

He could even predict their reaction now- '_Sure, anything you say_'

"Look, I'm just planning on using splash from there so I can fly straight into the pokemart from there! We'll just have to pick a time when the Pidgeotto aren't that active! I don't even know why they were there in the first place, given they're from Kanto!

Could we give it a try so that I can see if even the first part of the plan can be a success?"

And so, with the Magikarps as their spectators, a small swarm of Carvanha and a baby Magikarp hauled up a fairly light stone up until the waterfall. Tsuna was flopping over the rock, trying to find a stable equilibrium.

Sometimes he felt that Magikarps were more restless than a Spoink, given how much he wriggled around.

"Oof. I'm ready."

"Commencing operation: Fly little fishie!" said the roleplaying Carvanha that seemed way more aboard this plan that its instigator.

The former brunette felt the rock under him tremor under the pressure of the jet streams- and then he wondered if this was a bad idea. If the rock broke under pressure, he'd be the one bearing the brunt of the Aqua Jet's pressure...

"H-hey, maybe we should rethink this- Eep!-" and then found himself lodged into the vast blue sky with a miniature version of the rock- it looked like a grey pet rock right now. It was somehow familiar looking?

But he had no time to bother for that, the Carvanha were nosediving into the upper water body of the waterfall, and he'd need to catch up. Pronto!

Seeing the splash they made there, the Magikarp in the lower level cheered.

That day the Fortree forest echoed with haunting echoes of "Karp Karp." and the Rangers did not fancy seeing maniacal Magikarps crowding around the waterfall. They looked like a cult. That day, no trainers walked that path to reach the Fortree city. They were scared away from the grim and morose looks that the Rangers sported as they warned those that wanted to wander the forest.

The Carvanha decided to turn a blind eye on the sight below them, choosing to play ignorant. After all... what they didn't know, didn't hurt them.

Tsuna decided to keep that rock with him, seeing how much help it did for him, despite feeling like his intuition was cackling at him for making that decision. He then looked back at the piranha-like group and said,

"I can see the mart from here. I think I can splash from here and reach down. You guys can use Bite and cling onto my fins to hitch a ride. But uh... I might faint, so I don't think I can handle that many bites..."

This resulted in a strange phenomenon that the citizens of Fortree could see only for that day.

The shop owner from the poke mart headed out for a break only to see a shadow of a bird-like creature with a long tail and whispered to herself in disbelief.

"Is that... Good Lord is that... Ho-Oh?!"

Then that misunderstanding was cleared up when it came closer to the store. It was a web, no some sort of chain of Carvanhas... with a Magikarp in its center?! And the beak was an... everstone?! The body of a school of Carvanhas, the head of a Magikarp and the beak of an everstone... seemed like some sort of mythical beast from ancient history or mythology...

'Wait, why am I able to describe this in such detail...?' the storekeeper wondered. You see in moments where the situation is something completely from the left field, the human has difficulty comprehending the situation. Their cognitive ability slows down and they can't react as quickly to something as they normally would.

The shop owner then found that answer- it literally rammed into her and she could see the amalgamation of pokemon in closeup- the fainted Magikarp and the callous Carvanha that didn't give the former any consideration. They merely followed the thought school of 'The end justifies the means.'

* * *

Tsuna woke up seeing Nurse Joy's cheerful smile as she reassured the Carvanha and him that things were just peachy.

Then he saw a shop keeper enter the pokecenter after some minutes when she left them alone. She told the nurse,

"They're all fine now? That's great. Though, I wonder what was that all about. I've not heard of Carvanhas ganging up on Magikarps. Was there some kind of turf war or something? But that doesn't make sense either.

Magikarps are everywhere and there's always a heck lot of them."

"It's not like these Carvanhas are fighting with this Magikarp though. Didn't they drag that Magikarp to me once they spotted me?"

"Huh I wonder what's going on?"

Tsuna knew it was rude to interrupt their conversation, and maybe he should start by clearing up the confusion- but seeing the shopkeeper at the end of this mess just made him go straight to the point.

"Hey, shopkeeper-san. Could you give me some pokeballs and some potions? I'd also appreciate it if you can give me some X-attacks, X-defenses, X-special defenses, X-speeds and some X-guardspecs..."

which came to the two humans as "Karp Karp Karp Karp." (This would have sent shivers to the Rangers that hung around the city, given their recent experiences)

"Wow, this little guy's so energetic!"

"He must be giving his thanks."

"D'you think he's worried about how to get home? Don't worry, I'm sure the Rangers can help carry you guys back to route 128."

Tsuna immediately panicked. All this for nothing. No siree. If words won't cut it, actions will! And then he tried to Splash 'til the exit.

"Where'd you think you're going young man?!"

"Oh dear. He must have gotten scared since there are so many people here... But dear, we mean you no harm. Stay still until the Rangers come, will you? It'll only be a bit uncomfortable until then."

Seeing the fast approaching hands reaching him, Tsuna cried out "Help." and the Carvanhas obliged- some of the more mature ones blocked their approach and used Scary Face, putting a stop to their advances.

Tsuna splashed right into the door, feeling himself getting a head bump- and then the door opens via automatic sliding. He was so lucky that he was water type and that IR could get reflected from his fishy body.

He then started flopping towards the pokemart, the Carvanha following him, followed by the baffled humans who could only do just that to see exactly what was up with these pokemon.

This time, the pokemart opened and let him through without Tsuna ramming into it to enter. He moved right to the shelf with the pokeballs and started flopping into it to show his intentions.

Seeing that the Carvanha was not stopping the two adults anymore, they approached the Magikarp that seemed overly enthusiastic about the pokeballs.

"Magikarp... That might look like your color, but they're not your eggs." the confused shopkeeper said, trying to find reasons for these strange, unfathomable behavior.

Tsuna realized that there may be some drastic measures that would be needed to show his intentions.

So he used his fins as a paddle and shot the pokeball right into the face of the shop keeper. Whoops, maybe he should hit lower, in a place that won't hurt that much.

The shopkeeper realized that the fish was not bashing her- but trying to let her know that he had other reasons. There she was, spending her busy afternoon, understanding why a Magikarp's doing what it's doing. Her customers were watching their exchange with unabaited interest.

"You want to be caught by a trainer?"

Tsuna tsked at the narrow-minded human in front of him. The Carvanhas piped up then.

"Throw one at us. The chick might get it then."

So Tsuna followed suit. Either way, nothing's going to happen, since he was a pokemon. He just wanted to use the pokeballs to show the fact that he wanted to act as a pseudo trainer to help himself on his journey, and get stronger- and the pokeball was the strongest indicator of that. He figured it can serve him as a show of his intentions.

But the pokeball he threw at one of the Carvanha immediately sucked it in and it started buzzing around, emulating a catch sequence.

Tsuna immediately panicked and floundered around, sending other pokeballs out of its counter and down. The other Carvanha seeing the falling pokeballs, lunged towards them. It was then, that Tsuna realized that he had been played. At this rate, he'd be like that one fisherman in every pokemon game that had all six pokemon as Magikarps- Carvanhas in his case.

The adults turned as panicked as he was and started searching the pokeball for an abort option. But alas... It was too late.

The shopkeeper then, somewhat dumbly said, "Oh I see, you wanted to... train and raise pokemon."

Tsuna wanted to desperately learn Tackle right now so that he could either use it on her or on himself with how hysterical he was becoming.

He tapped his head at the gathered and used pokeballs to bring them out, just to see what they had to say for themselves.

"Ooh, it seems like the plan was a success. Don't get too mad, Tsuna. We just wanted to use a method to make sure you keep your word- when you said we can travel the place together!" they had no remorse for their actions.

The pokemart shopkeeper saw that the pokemon in front of her were reaching some consensus and said,

"I can somewhat understand why you guys came here in the first place. But, uh, the merchandise cost money... Do you guys have money?"

Seeing the thunderstruck expression on the Magikarp and how it looked even more shocked at the pokeballs it just used without any consideration, the shopkeeper sheepishly smiled and said,

"Oh, you guys don't have to worry about repaying that amount. I can keep a tab open for you if you want to pay me back-" she added on, when she saw the serious and disapproving look Tsuna put on his face. She then continued, "I can help you buy some stuff, don't worry I'll keep track. But, uh... Where are you going to store it in?"

It was a double whammy. Tsuna didn't think about it at all. He just took that bag the trainers wore for granted.

"Maybe that adventure you're planning on going together would be better if a pokemon trainer catches you and helps you go on it together? I can ask some trustworthy people around for you, if you'd like..."

Tsuna thought about it. The biggest issue was that in the games, the trainer who could do whatever and whenever was the main character- the person you played as. The other trainers didn't train their pokemon fast enough and were somewhat pathetic in battle. It was only after the actual game, post meta that things got challenging. And that was with actual trainers- in competitive battling.

In the anime too, the trainers didn't really train their pokemon that well. The ones that had glamorous battles were a few notable trainers and mainly the gym leaders and the league elites.

That really wasn't enough for Tsuna. The shopkeeper looked at the conflicted face of the Magikarp and sighed.

"I'll keep all my offers open for you, except the last one. It doesn't seem like your party is open to that idea. But you guys might want to give the pokemon trainer idea a second try, when you've polished up the details for the plan."

That was true. The Magikarp splashed and reached the pokeballs and pressed it again saying, "You guys wanted to travel with me right. Unless I straighten things out, you'd be forced to stay by my side. Let's decide on what to do when we have a better plan, right?"- and released them.

The Carvanhas booed the spoilsports, but they acquiesced nonetheless.

* * *

Just when things were quietening down, the shopkeeper took the pokemon to the other side of the town, mistaking the direction that the lot of them came from. She planned on giving them back to the place where they could feel comfortable in.

Tsuna didn't object since the pond/lake with a starry sky reflected on it was a sight to behold.

But then, he felt the wind shift and a sign of foreboding. The Carvanhas started getting jittery noticing his unease, while the shopkeeper left them in the water body, oblivious to the change in the atmosphere.

Tsuna's eyes got caught into the scene at a distance- at a vantage point on a mountain. With a swift speed, something was approaching them fast.

In a moment's interval, A white furred pokemon stood looking at them from the height of the cliff surrounding the pond. It was an Absol, one that looked extremely intimidating, staring at them with a cold and lofty look.

"You've disturbed the peace of my forest for far too long. _I'll bite you to death_."

It was an extremely familiar line, due to the reason that the owner of the catchphrase and he himself had been stuck together for far too long than any sane person should.

Before he could retort, it seemed that the Carvanha had gotten engrossed in the other's presence- the sheer bloodthirst of the other riling them up until they charged right into the challenge posed by the Absol.

"What?! That doesn't make any sense. I've never heard of an Absol that purposefully stirs up disasters and actively participates in confrontations!" Tsuna could feel the stirs of hysteria as the Carvanhas started running away once they realized that the Absol was too strong to win against- not that the other was letting them get away.

"Shut up. You're noisy." The Absol told him, getting distracted because of the noise. Seeing the change of targets, Tsuna went pale from fright. What could a Magikarp do in this situation?!

He was a lone warrior in this battle scene. His comrades had effectively made him the scapegoat.

He did something only he could do. When he saw the Absol make a beeline towards him rather quickly, he sent his brain into overdrive- quick attack.

He splashed right out of the line of attack. But he was vulnerable in air, so he dived towards the grass for cover.

If this was who he thought he was, then this guy's a battle nut. That could mean he used most of his PPs for his moves. He should observe the other's moveset to figure out what level he could be around.

When he tried to head deeper into the grass so that it wasn't obvious that's he's hidden in the spot of grass that he jumped into- his flopping around made rustles in the grass, alerting the Absol immediately. When the pokemon rushed right into the grass, intending to take it out with a quick attack- the Magikarp used splash a few seconds before making it go into another patch of the grass.

And thus, the game of whack a mole was instantiated. After a few dodges, The Absol became irritated enough to accidentally leer right at the other. He got so frustrated at using scratches at places where he thought the stupid fish was, to get another pokemon riled up into attacking him- serving as a great distraction to make the fish get into more confusing locations.

The Absol won the encounters, but he also had to lose time shutting the ones who got caught into the crossfire. When he'd catch glimpses of the red and useless fish, he'd end up using Leer at it, while engaging in battles with other pokemon. And boy, wasn't it so pointless to lower the stat points of the weakest pokemon to defeat it.

Tsuna knew that with the chain of leers, he'd only get KO'd by the end of it. And this was not the kind of excitement he needed in his life.

As the Absol was losing its temper, it started using Pursuit and that was when Tsuna started getting terrified. This meant that he could be easily targetted by the attack- especially since he's being the one to try and escape from the other. He was only getting missed because there were some other poor souls who got caught in the crossfire and were trying to get away from the other.

He couldn't just hope for luck to strike, and thus, he thought of an idea to counter this. He'd use splash whenever the other was using Pursuit and he'd be _technically _not escaping the other, just the splash would make him get to a place away from the vicious Pokemon. Plus, the other couldn't use Scratch nor Quick Attack against him, now that it had exhausted them by the other accidental battles.

It seemed that the triumphant look the former brunette sported ticked off his opponent, seeing that the other became more focused into this one-sided battle of theirs. Well, of course he'd be pissed. Tsuna changed this easy peasy skirmish into a war of attrition.

After some time, Tsuna felt horror dawning upon him as he realized he couldn't use Splash anymore. The other smirked as it sauntered close to the cornered pokemon.

"Tell me your name, weak pokemon."

"Sawada Tsunayoshi." Tsuna didn't like the look the other sported. It was very similar to the one his cloud guardian had on when he got his interest caught by something.

"Hibari Kyoya." the other said and tried to use its last move... only to find out that he himself exhausted all his options. But Tsuna knew that even if the other lost all his options, there was no way he'd let him go just like that. He could only hope that the other pokemon, the apparently pokemon version of his cloud guardian (Wow, what are the odds?) fought against did enough damage for Tsuna to finish this battle for once and for all- and he used Struggle against the distracted Absol.

Hibari snapped out of it with that attack, and without hesitation, landed the first and final blow to the Magikarp.

'Hibari-san's a monster!' was the last thought that Tsuna thought, as his vision dimmed on the figure of the Absol stumbling around before outright falling upon the Magikarp.

When Tsuna got back into it, he noticed he was back at the pokemon center, with the Absol staring the nurse down intimidatingly in front of him. It sure confused the heck out of him.

The Carvanha were also peeping at the Absol like fangirls, their eyes sparkling with the message- 'Notice me senpai~!'

Hibari turned right to him and said-

"I've heard your story from those weak pokemon." he said, nudging his head towards the groupie. He continued, "I'll join you. You're too weak to do anything by yourself." his eyes looking expectantly towards the pokeball near the Magikarp's fin.

"Wait, it's not like I'm alone. I was planning on taking those guys with me-" in his past life it was the Vongola rings, and now it was a pokeball?!

"They're mine now." He said, and Tsuna could only fill in the gap between the information looking at the cheery looks of the Carvanhas as they excitedly gestured their approvals. Tsuna could only flabbergasted-ly look at the ease at which these guys changed sides. Wait, were they the DC committee's members from his other life?!

How did this turn out to be some kind of weird hierarchy of pokemon trainers- it almost seemed like an organization! Tsuna's pokemon's pokemons? Is this the Mafia and the Vigilante all over again?! Is this the start of a pyramid schemed organization?

"B-but, what about the storage? We need a bag to keep stuff right?"

Hibari moved to a side of the room and brought out a bag... that had blood stains!? Tsuna immediately swiveled his head back to Hibari. Did he flick these from a pokemon trainer?! Was that guy all right?!

"He had a secret base in my territory. So I taught him a lesson and claimed his tributes."

Tsuna wanted to learn Headbutt so that he could repeatedly wall-plant himself, concussion be damned! Why was he a Magikarp?!

Hibari wore the bag and told him to hurry up and use the pokeball. His eyes held the promise of death for any rebuttals.

And Tsuna... Tsuna flicked the pokeball against him as childishly as he could. Even if the situations capsizing on him and summoning disasters just for him, it doesn't mean he can't give them disasters an attitude.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Shortcut consequences (those poor passerbies)**

Tsuna realized that the saying that 'You must have angered some god to experience your misfortunes' rung home in his case. There was absolutely no doubt.

It was somewhat fitting that for all that Tsuna wished to lounge around and maintain peace- he'd be the one creature, I mean pokemon, that couldn't stay still even if it was threatened at gunpoint.

Hibari withdrew the Carvanha into their pokeballs when they were flopping about in the land, 'cos it'd be an incredible feat on its own if fish could swim on land. But he couldn't do the same for his companion.

You see, Magikarps are pokemon that flip flop over water, let alone land. They were worse than Spoinks, because that spring could fade into a lull as background music- but Tsuna's splashing and floundering around? Erratic as heck. There was no pattern, no music that could be composed.

And Tsuna could feel the holes that Hibari's glares could drill into him.

At the very least he wasn't using Splash randomly and saying "Karp Karp" like his siblings.

Now, if Tsuna didn't flounder forward and invest wholeheartedly into the future, Hibari would definitely bite him to death in a minute. And that minute was because the Absol seemed somewhat fond of him. Tsuna was definitely more passionate about his life than his past one.

They were en route to Lilycove city since Tsuna realized that it was closer and they could take the S.S. Anne, right to Slateport. What got him somewhat irritated was the fact that another revelation fell upon him that his swimming pokemon couldn't ignore the whole Fortree-shtick and go straight to Lilycove if there was a direct sea route to the city! Turns out, even Pokemon shirk on troublesome time and effort consuming tasks by downright pretending that something definitely didn't exist. Because they can dive deep into seas under high pressures, surf and even climb waterfalls- but reverse currents? God forbid.

Either way, they could take a ride back and relax through it. But he needed to find either Gokudera or Mukuro ASAP- especially now that there was a chance that his guardians are also in this world. Because he needed to either be around someone who can tolerate the quirks of being a Magikarp- or he needed someone who could be the better target of Hibari's frustrations.

One of the problems of having Hibari as company was that anything you say can and will be used against you. Tsuna learned it again the hard way when a sentence he casually spoke brought mayhem.

"I think I'll miss being a trainer a bit. It just takes eye contact to get into trainer battles and we can earn money that way." the Magikarp grumbled when the only source of money they had was from him interacting with every patch of land in search of hidden items- that he could sell to the mart.

Tsuna did not like the glee that filled the Absol's face at that.

From then on, Hibari took to flinging the Magikarp right onto any passing traveler's face in a sham of an eye contact (a forced, but fateful encounter no doubt)- and then helping himself to the disoriented trainer's pokemon, demolishing them in battles. The pokemon fought with anything that even breathed his way.

The only thing that was good from those situations was that Tsuna grew a hang of how to use the vast amount of potions he'd stock up- his intuition was always right, even if he'd desperately want it to be wrong. But unfortunately, he could not pass that technique on (Hibari was uninterested anyway. After all, it was maintenance work- dry and boring.)

How did a fish with no opposable thumbs use those ergonomic tools you ask? Well, that random nature of his flopping around turned out handy. With so many random permutations and combinations of movements against those tools- one would definitely trigger its use- 'twas the nature of probability and statistics. It was either using those tools properly, or constant visits back to the pokemon center with a completely spent Absol to get them back to traveling (The one step forward, two steps backward analogy at its finest!) The only drawback to this learned technique was that it only enabled Hibari in his journey to spread as much pain and misery as possible!

Tsuna could bet that the duo earned themselves quite the reputation as nuisances by then, but he had ways of ignoring problems. Now whenever Hibari saw Oddishes or Glooms, he'd jump right into the line of action when the other used sleep powder, shielding Hibari from the brunt of the attack. Yep, blacking out meant precious time ignoring reality and its many problems. Chances are he'd sleep through the duration of the problem and wake up at its resolution. A pokemon could at least dream!

Through the various battles, Hibari grew stronger. That was a natural progression. What was nasty about it, was that Hibari learned from their little battle and kept strategic moves like Double Team and Swords Dance. You know what that meant? He'd get fewer hits on him and his attacks would be strong enough to use fewer PPs to get more bang for the same buck. Tsuna could only shudder in fear as he saw the Absol looking like he was making plans for their rematch.

But it wasn't like the Magikarp was completely in the other's mercy. Through exploiting the Absol's sheer ignorance about what was actually in the bag he carried around, he'd let the other fight until using the Struggles until it exhausted itself. Then he'd never let the other know that there was a heck lotta revives stocked up for these situations, plus a hidden stash of leppa berries...

Yeah, Hibari would definitely bite him to death if he so much peeked into the bag. _But Hibari's ignorance was Tsuna's bliss._

This became the duo's new routine. Tsuna would splash around and scout the area for items. Hint-herd Hibari towards opponents and obstacles that would hinder their journey and when they had to make progress, Tsuna'd bring the bag wearing exhausted Hibari back to the pokeball and with _solid snake stealth _sneak by with the pokeball into newer territories. Finally, he'd revive or heal Hibari to let him loose, then rinse and repeat. The other _never_ caught on!

* * *

Their travel eventually landed at the Safari, the intermediate point to their goal. Seeing Hibari's attention at its gates, Tsuna said-

"Ah, we can't go there Hibari-san. Right now we're ill-equipped to see it through." 'After all, we don't have Acro or Mach bikes, and no way to ride them.'

And Hibari heard a challenge in that statement. Thus they went in the Safari, via the befuddled receptionist giving them the A-Ok.

Tsuna looked at the vast wilderness with a bleak look. They fit right in. What were they doing anyway? Pokemon visiting a safari to see Pokemon?

Their circumstances were a bit... _unique, _but normally speaking, there was nothing to do here for Pokemon. _What would an animal do in a zoo?_

It genuinely befuddled Tsuna. Hibari, on the other hand, was on a _murder spree; in other words, he was having the time of his life_.

Then Hibari's reign of madness was stopped, with the Absol crashing right next to him. But before the other fainted, it gave him a death glare that told him that he'd murder the fish if he didn't use the revives on him this time.

Whoops, seems like the former demon of Namimori had a slinking suspicion about the Magikarp's fishy business.

Tsuna looked towards the direction of the attack to see what was the monster that managed this, and saw an approaching... Wobuffet?

But unfortunately, with the revelation, the revive that Tsuna used made Hibari awake right at the time when he saw the other snorting at him. With a glare, Hibari rushed right back to his target... only to fall right back with a crash.

Tsuna realized what was going on with rising amusement. The other used _Counter._

So with badly hidden giggles, Tsuna good-naturedly let Hibari know what exactly transpired.

"Hibari-san, it's because the other guy's using Counter. It's gonna hit back really hard for every good hit you give him. The only way to do something good against the guy is to do consecutive bad hits or effectively one-hit KO him. and the latter part comes with its own risks if he uses Destiny Bond. Then you're super doomed.

Maybe this time, you'd have to give it up. This guy is the very manifestation of Que Sera Sera-"

This only helped in fanning the flame of Hibari's wrath and he went for more fruitless rounds, and Tsuna started getting exasperated.

He was apparently going to be the only voice of reason in this battle- seeing as the Wobuffet was enthusiastically returning blows to the Absol's advances. It certainly was gutsy for actively participate in a battle with a dark type pokemon, despite its type. So he brought his case to the psychic pokemon, hoping that at least one of them could stop this stupid fight.

"Hey, maybe you should quit it? This guy doesn't know how to quit. I think you made your point well enough." the Magikarp wondered if the other had a vendetta against the Absol for keeping these battles up.

"No way! It's a battle amongst men! It'll only be over if our spirits let us know who won this battle! And we still have the fire going on within us! So don't interfere!-

... What was your name?"

No, there was no vendetta, this was just a hot-blooded guy. Wow, this guy would get along like houses on fire with Onii-san. Tsuna wanted to pinch his nose in frustration- too bad that gesture could no longer be applicable to him. He sighed and said,

"It's Tsunayoshi. Sawada Tsunayoshi. You can call me Tsuna, though."

"I'm Sasagawa Ryohei! Now, let's get back to the fight. Bring him back, Tsuna! We're not finished yet. That guy won't be satisfied with how things are right now!"

Well, what are the odds? It was Onii-san himself. He's all for the JUMP manga philosophy and how manly bonds are built from many clashing fists- but he doubted Hibari had those motivations and that he feared that this battle would become and epic and he didn't know if he had enough revives to let them be. He doubted they'd ever reach a settlement.

He looked at Hibari-san and told him with a deadpan, "Hibari-san, I don't know why you're getting riled up here. It's not a battle of strength- it's literally a bad match-up; and that happens quite often in this world, especially since there's no best pokemon."

And before Hibari took offense at that, Ryohei was the one who roared back,

"What do you mean by that Tsuna?! It is a fight to the best!" to which Tsuna rolled his eyes and used a full restore on Ryohei and told him,

"I can show it to you. Let's have a battle, Onii-san."

Hibari looked at the confidence on Tsuna's face and became intrigued.

The Wobbuffet took its stance, looking battle ready and fired up. In the heated atmosphere, Tsuna started off the battle with a Splash. He then stood and waited.

His opponent looked confused. Hibari looked confused. The former boxer's confusion changed into rage as he felt belittled and he used Counter... only for that to fail.

It was truly befuddling. Tsuna used splash over and over again. No matter what Sasagawa used- Mirror Coat, Counter, Destiny Bond or Safeguard- it didn't do a single point of damage.

Tsuna huffed out a sigh at the face of the astonishment of the other pokemon and couldn't help but make a wry smile. Turns out being somewhat of a Gaming Otaku and spending countless of hours into Pokemon gave him quite a lot of insight into these battles. And what do you know, seems like being a Magikarp ran to his benefit for once.

Things only became better when they were reduced to using only Struggles. Even though the Wobuffet could do damage, Tsuna had leftovers on him... Yeah...

At the end of the battle, Tsuna felt like he learned a new move- his long-awaited Tackle. and thus he merrily revived the fallen Wobuffet- who proceeded to loudly complain and protest.

"That's not fair! You didn't even attack! What's a fight if you don't even fight?! You even could heal yourself in that battle!"

"I don't mind going again if you're not satisfied." to which Tsuna took glee to the fact that Ryohei flinched. He put the leftovers back to the bag and told the other-

"I'll only use Tackle."

Tsuna didn't care that it was the most badass he'd felt since coming to this world. Hibari looked at him in utter fascination, while Ryohei could only gape and be utterly speechless.

The next battle showed exactly what he meant by that statement. With the Magikarp's absolute shit attack, the Counter did a pathetic amount of damage- while the tackles trickled in small but steady damage with sprinkles of critical attacks.

It was Tsuna's victory- a victory by a hair-breadth, but a victory nonetheless.

"Now... you two. What have we learned from this?"

"That was a bad matchup..." "Hn." and didn't the words (and the non-verbal response from Hibari) from the duo ring as sweet as honey?

"And what do we learn from bad matchups?"

"We'll choose our battles..." "Hn."

"Good~"


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews you guys(ACasualPotato, thecatleader, angeldunn1993) :D

I'm back again!

Hope you like the story, and feel free to write any opinions you have about the story- they're very welcome.

Now, onwards.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**To the depths of the Safari**

Tsuna didn't like whatever harebrained idea Hibari thought off when he had started the pokeball idea. He believed in nipping the problem in the bud, especially since he'd been victim to many of Reborn's schemes. Thus, he needed to make sure they were all busy enough to not wander into that particular topic and talk about it.

And what was he going to say if he ended up catching them all?_ "I just had to make them mine"?_ In his last life, he had put a ring over them- and had gotten mercilessly teased about them. Right now, he kept on hesitating on asking them on whether they remembered or not. Plus, things were not calm enough to have merry little talks about. He's apparently seeing one guardian after the other. He'd like to find them or see exactly how many people he knew were in this world.

"Onii-san, do you want to travel with us? We're planning on traveling around the Hoenn and other places."

But before Sasagawa could reply, Hibari butted in saying "I've not explored this place in its full detail. And I've yet to find what you called 'impossible' to look into for now."

"You see those rails there? They're bicycle rails and they're used to get from one place to another- into the deeper zones of the Safari. And we don't have the cycles to travel through them-"

"Why would we need cycles?"

When Tsuna was about to angrily retort to that stupid question, he temporarily paused.

...Why did they need cycles? An Absol can jump through mountains with ease... and the Safari didn't have that wild of a geography...

Seeing the gaping Magikarp, Ryohei threw a bone out to help the other in his predicament. "C'mon Hibari! You've gotta see it through his eyes! Tsuna can't climb up mountains."

"I've seen that weak pokemon fly through the air through the Fortree waterfalls to land right into the city." the former prefect deadpanned.

"That's EXTREME, Tsuna!

...Wait, then why can't you go deeper into the place?"

"...I'll have you know, it took a whole squad of Carvanha to do that. Plus I fainted in the midst of it."

"You mean you were skydiving practically blindfolded without any controls?!"

That's no good. With every word, the Wobuffet was getting more and more impressed. Tsuna was not helping his case whatsoever. Plus, he might have given ideas to this guy -plus, there was no good in giving radical ideas to adrenaline junkies.

Seeing Tsuna quiet all of a sudden, Ryohei figured something was up. He got that part of the equation right, but the solution wrong as he suggested, "Hibari... Do you think Tsuna wanted to ride the bikes- that's why he didn't want to keep postponing the Safari exploration until he could get one and learn to ride it?"

"No! That's impossible. Look, I'm a _Magikarp. _How do you expect me to ride a bicycle in the first place."

"Nothing's impossible, little bro." said the Adidas spokesman, Sasagawa Ryohei. Then adding oil to flames, Hibari quipped-

"You said the same thing to me when I told you to use the bag to back me up."

"The whole potion utilization and stuff is literally the work of miracles, Hibari-san. I don't know how I'm using it _and_ I don't know what am I doing when trying to do anything with those items." Tsuna wanted to knock some good ol' fashioned common sense into these two.

But alas... logic wanted nothing to do with the two senpais, and Hibari broke the impasse by flinging Tsuna right into a peaceful participant of the Safari expedition. The poor Acrobiker didn't know what hit him.

"Do you see what I have Hibari-san? Fins. I have Fins! And they can't help me swim properly, let alone grip anything! Do you see the height difference between the seat height, the pedals, and the handlebars?! How do you expect me to ride this?!"

Hibari looked at the knocked-out rider with disdain, and said "If _he_ could do it, so can you."

"Believe in yourself Tsuna!" Ryohei cheered. Tsuna couldn't understand. With what sense or brain cell did they think that this plan was viable?

"You've got to be joking, onii-san!"

"Then, don't believe yourself. believe in the me that believes in you!"

"This whole thing is ridiculous." he protested as the Wobuffet set the bike upright and placed the fish right on top of the seat and gave it a push. It was running straight with no issue. The duo gave the fish a mocking sigh, as if chiding a willful child.

Tsuna could only grit his teeth in frustration as the bike moved according to the marvels of engineering and physics- but **mark his words, this fantasy wouldn't go for too long. **

Even if logic wrote the two of them a farewell later stating, '_Don't look for me. I'm going on a journey to find myself!_', **Physics wouldn't let their tomfoolery be.**

On the next curve in the trail, the bike fell off with a thud right onto the fish. 'Being right was never this painful'- was Tsuna's wheezing thought.

"This path is extremely unsafe! They should have put more thought into constructing this if it was this easy to get hurt" said the outraged Wobuffet.

'No no no no. This is safe. It's just that they weren't planning for having fish ride bikes over their rails!' and Tsuna would have retorted this Phoenix Wright style if the bike wasn't crushing him.

Hibari had a better idea. He glared straight into the soul of the rider, making the poor guy wake up via his sheer survival instincts- only to look into the menacing face of a bloodthirsty Absol. The dark pokemon then gestured towards the rail and then towards the fallen Magikarp. He then made the point clear by using a slash right onto the bike, cracking it into perfect halves.

Then, as if the two rehearsed this little bit, Ryohei picked the shocked Tsuna and placed him on the back of the rider; before finally placing the rider on the rails

Tsuna did not know _why logic forsook these two like so_. But he was willing to beg it to come back to them. The bike rider completed his ordeal of transporting the Magikarp to the other side of the trail.

The Magikarp splashed right off the other, giving the poor guy some time to run for his life. He then proceeded to ask the two, _"Why?! Why did it come to that?!"_

And Hibari replied, not missing a beat- "That guy rode a bike. And you rode him. So by the law of transitivity, you rode the bike." and Ryohei solemnly nodded.

And Tsuna gnashed his teeth in pure frustration._ Math, why must you deign this nonsensical reality as logical? Was he the one lacking common sense?!_

* * *

Now that Tsuna's ride ran away, he had no way to get back and they were in the deep end from all this schtick- _literally._

"I don't know if you guys have a return plan now that, that biker is gone. I doubt there would be any more trainers in this area since they need both the acro and the mach bike to get here- and both of em are expensive as heck..."

Not waiting for a response, the Magikarp looked around curiously since he didn't explore the Safari completely. It was because of all the extra tedious procedure the pokemon trainers had to do post game to get both the bikes.

His eyes didn't travel explore since they got stuck at a particular spot- it was really hard to look away from the _hot pink _Mareep. He sparkled and there was no looking away from that _hot mess. _

The Mareep abruptly looked at the trio because of the unrelenting stares of the Magikarp and the former did the only thing it could do at the face of the deadly trio... It saw a fence and started hopping back and forth over it...

'The games' pokemon trainers should take pointers from this Mareep...' was weirded out Tsuna's only thought. But unfortunately, that sheep was no Jigglypuff. It was not very effective.

The Wobuffet looked fed up at the spectacle, huffing out "That guy's at it again? I don't know why he does that when he has Cotton Spore. I mean, it's not like it doesn't work. I've heard Xatu mention that she slept better with it than when Gloom used sleep powder on her..."

Tsuna swiveled his head back at the former boxer in shock. He didn't know where he should start on that.

"Xatus tracking sheep movement to sleep... I thought they were glorified totem poles... No, leave that!-

You mean he's trying to make us sleep?! You mean he's enacting that 1 sheep 2 sheep thing?! Seriously?! Do sheep even exist in the pokemon world?! Can he make pokemon sleep without using an explicit move?!"

"It works" Sasagawa shrugged, pointing at the Absol who decided to snooze since things were getting boring.

"I don't think Hibari-san knew that the Mareep was trying to make us sleep. He just sleeps whenever and wherever he wants to..."

"Oi! Don't ignore Lambo-san! You guys don't get to ignore me when I'm going to such lengths to make you sleep!" screamed the righteously infuriated Mareep when he saw that the duo chose to discuss in favor of looking at him. It seemed that the sheep required more attention than a diva.

Tsuna had to double take at that. He wouldn't have pegged the kid as the pokemon's equivalent of a sheep. But it even turned out that, even if the kid was a sheep- he was a one-of-a-kind sheep. Talk about contrary...

Then Lambo proceeded to let loose to let everyone there know that he was _shook, _just like how he did in Tsuna's past life- by letting loose a Thunder Shock right at Tsuna.

Predictably, the Magikarp acted like a Magikarp and got pwned at that move.

"You didn't even hear what I had to say for what you guys were doing! That's not fair! At least let me know what got you to sleep in the end?! Pretty please- Hey, say something! Don't just go to sleep!" the sheep shrieked as he tried to wake the fainted fish up.

As it enacted drama after drama, soaking the entire grass patch with sensational dramatisation so deep, it made sense that the grass surrounding the area tinted dark and gloomy- this actor set up his own stage! Alas, there was no witnesses, as the only awake audience, Sasagawa Ryohei, had left to do something practical- get a revival herb for the fish from the sleeping Absol's backpack.

Turns out, in reality, melodrama often doesn't pan out. The Magikarp woke up with little to no fanfare.

Foiled, the Mareep staggered from him in shock, and every flailing movement of the sheep brought pokeblocks to get flung upon the poor fish.

"...Pokeblocks?"

"What are you doing! Give them back! They're all Lambo-sans!" the Mareep shrieked as it lunged over to the most defenseless pokemon the universe had to offer.

"They're not yours Lambo. The guys 'round here have been telling me that every time a trainer pops up in the safari around here, you appear in front of them." the Wobuffet deadpanned.

Tsuna sweat dropped, 'Seems like this pink sheep was trying to be the next red Gyarados. But wait... then why's he still here?'

"What's wrong with coming up to them? They give me free pokeblocks!"

"Yeah, you come closer with every poke block they through at you; give them a lot of expectations, and then simply run away! You're not honoring our opponents with a proper face to face, man to man battle!"

Tsuna didn't know what to do- should he admonish the kid for doing the pokemon's equivalent to catfishing? Or should he clear the boxer's misunderstanding of pokemon encounters from a pokemon's perspective-

But wait, if we thought of pokemon encounters from his current perspective- that it entailed the trainer battling the other to the brink of death to complete subordination... it made him feel like the past him was a really really bad guy. He was the hero of the game right...? But he and his team were pals...! But, now that he thought about it, didn't what he did for he and his loyal pals almost seem similar to how he had gotten his own guardians/best friends?

While Tsuna was having an existential crisis, Lambo indignantly justified himself.

"Lambo-san didn't take the cand- pokeblocks for the sake of it. Lambo-san had a great and big plan behind it! Since the guys here love those pokeblocks so much, this great me figured out that if I got all of them from all the trainers visiting me, Lambo-san has all the candy that everyone will do anything and everything for!"

The Magikarp looked utterly shocked by the deviousness of the sheep. Turns out that the Mafia blood ran deep within this kid- so deep that even dimensions couldn't separate it.

"I've never seen you give any of them to others, though..." the Wobuffet said, looking lost.

"That's because Lambo-san thought of something better. All this candy should become mine- all mine! They can just grovel at my feet in envy! Muhahaha."

'So you got hooked on them instead, huh?' Tsuna thought exasperated.

Thus, the supposed evil mastermind turned into a two-bit villain instead...


	5. Chapter 5

Hey there. Long time no see huh? Motivation finally struck! And your reviews also did the trick lol.

And so, the story continues!

Lemme know what you think, yeah? Hope you have fun :D

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Back beyond square one**

The Wobuffet looked at the unconscious fish, completely ignoring the tantrum-throwing Mareep, and asked, and pushed the fish into a pond. It slowly floated up to the surface- much like a dead fish.

"Woah. That's bad! Little bro's at the end of his rope!"

The Absol snorted derisively at this play of stupidity, seeing that this guy clearly didn't know how to revive a pokemon, and proceeded to use the fish as a water pail. The Magikarp had its mouth opened in shock like an unsuspecting victim of a horror movie villain, and was now being ironically drowned like one. How do you even waterboard a fish? It was so fishy how un-fish like this fish was, but only fishermen fished it and fished around to fish it while fishily fishing about, others hesitated at the very thought of fishing this fish(I'm sorry lol. I just had to write this sentence *snicker*).

"Uhhh, Hibari. I don't think that's helping. It looks more like you're giving him the final strike to his oblivion."

"He's a fish and needs water. If he floats, he needs the weight to sink to get that water." the prefect spoke in the veins of countering buoyancy. It was sound, but… did it mean that a creature that floated naturally on water, like it was oil, belonged in said body?

In the first place, Magikarps didn't really mesh well with water. They flopped in shallow ponds, unable to steer themselves in a proper direction. But, that was the same for their land affinity. Say, where exactly did Magikarps belong?

"That's a great idea! But lil' bro's not closing his mouth so he's not really swallowing down water...

Oh, I know! I got an amazing idea! I saw him carrying a rock around. Maybe he could swallow that to ground him?"

And so, the duo proceeded to shove the silver-grey, smooth stone down the fish's throat(?)- to the woe of the future Magikarp.

Lambo had by then calmed down from all that thrashing around and looked at the trio, highly unimpressed.

"I've never seen a Magikarp being cared for" (if that's what caring looked like) "Usually, the trainers around here, turn tail once a Magikarp's caught on hook."

Then, on some kind of bizarre cue, a trainer saw the strange, but rare trio of pokemon and had a glint in his eye. Hibari welcomed the implicit challenge and immediately pummeled the trainer within seconds.

He then proceeded to see that the other trainers in the area blatantly try to avoid the fainted Magikarp and instead narrow their focus on them.

The prefect's eyes glinted at the hidden potential of these creatures, completely misunderstanding why people avoided Magikarps like they avoided Zubats. He then remembered how these fish seemed to be everywhere and anywhere and proceeded to have expectations, ones Tsuna would deem completely unwarranted for, about the robustness and hardiness of these pokemon. Maybe… there was something to them- something that they intentionally hid behind those unsuspecting weak outer forms- something dangerous if provoked… hidden behind those dead fish eyes.

Nurarihyon were the same. In Japanese mythology, those creatures had an extremely weak presence but they were the boss of the hyakki-yagyo: the parade of a hundred demons. They hid their presence in plain sight and were rumoured to target and manipulate everything from behind the shadows (But in actuality, it's just derping about at the wrong time and wrong place). The Magikarp had tied with him in their battle, making the prefect only feel further validated for having this thought. Blood lust sprouted in the Absol as it started making a sharp-edged smirk in that anticipation.

Thus, a new misunderstanding was born- and it was something Tsuna would hold a deep grudge for the Mareep for.

The sheep looked at the bag and without hesitation started rummaging through it to pilfer any poke blocks, but saw nothing of interest inside of it.

Lambo then stared at the bag and thought of a great idea.

"Hey! Lambo can store his candy in here! I'm amazing for thinking about this. Now, this genius me can walk around without picking up any candy that fall off!"

After stuffing the bag with all of his storage, he thought of an even greater idea. His eyes turned towards Hibari who was harassing stray trainers and dashed towards the crime site with the intentions of a hyena, no doubt kicking those poor trainers when they were down.

At first, the sheep just took the pokeblocks that the fainted trainers had carried around, but the pace of Hibari's assault was too fast for the sheep to keep up and so he decided to simply shovel the entirety of their bags into his hair.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Tsuna eventually woke up from his fainting spell muttering, "Why didn't anyone use a revive on me? I feel like shit..." and looked up to a familiar abandoned bag which prettily sat there with pokemon surrounding it like a disney princess.

'Those guys still don't know how to use the bag?! They haven't even tried opening the latch to see what's inside!

And why did that bag become a school's queen bee all of a sudden?!'

It was like his companions thought the bag was a magician's hat. Feeling a bit ticked off, he proceeded to rummage through the bag and munch on sitrus berries to recover his strength.

"Karp karp."

He turned around to see his unexpected guest, a dead-eyed Magikarp that stared with… some unknown emotion… at him. Tsuna… didn't want to deal with this. Feeling a bit irritated, he decided to use what he learned from sticking around Mukuro for so long- the ability to piss someone off.

Maybe it was the unbearable urge to share his emotions and commiserate with his brethren- but he taunted the other, forgoing any introductions.

"What? Did you ambush me because you failed at it with any other trainer?"

"Karp karp."

"Why don't you splash off some waterfall? Wait, _you can't_"

"Karp karp."

"For all you splash, you can't create any big waves in any part of your or anyone's life."

"Karp karp."

"I swear, even if you splash around in acid, you won't do any damage"

"Karp karp."

Was this how it was like punching walls? Or maybe he just sucked at this… Oh, All mighty Mukuro~ please gift this lowly Magikarp with your poisonous tongue!

"_Karp karp karp_" he mimicked mockingly. He was aware that he was sounding childish-

All of a sudden, the other Magikarp turned even redder in anger and let out a shriek in rage-

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

It then shone brightly, attracting the attention of his wayward companions who flocked to the source of the commotion. Hibari wouldn't normally approve, but the shining rage filled Magikarp seemed like it would give a good fight.

It then evolved into a Gyarados, the fish equivalent of a perpetually angry Kratos and then proceeded to let out twisters in all directions. These lovecraftian gusts of winds proceeded to rip pieces of grass right from their grounds, uprooting trees and recruiting water from nearby pools to grow bigger in size.

Trainers started running for cover… or not- seeing them circle right into the disaster.

The enraged Gyarados roared on as its surroundings literally added fuel to the fire, raging onwards as if seeking justice for all that it was wronged for.

_"Why though?! I don't even know what I said?!"_ screeched the incredulous Tsuna.

Did he insult its ancestors or something? He doubted that. Even if he did, the fish would say anything other than "Karp karp.".

Something was making that dragon(?) hysterical and he didn't have a snickers bar or something equivalent to calm it down.

Hibari, on the other hand, looked at the menace like he had just hit gold. He then proceeded to look at Tsuna with a sparkle in his eye.

'This look seems awfully familiar...'

And memories of Hibari's 'approval' of Reborn's successfully trained Vongola Mafia boss came in waves and droves.

'Oh please no! Don't tell me that when I evolve to be a Gyarados, I'm going to be accompanying Kyoya to those tedious 'training' sessions!'

They had spent countless hours on those bloodthirsty sessions, making Sasagawa Ryohei jealous about their manly bonding over fists, which eventually lead to Hibari Kyoya acknowledging him and letting him call the other by his first name.

'I didn't need that privilege! And if Onii-san would have loved those spars, I'd rather he fought in my stead. Did he even understand how desperate I was in trying to survive those sessions?! But no! Onii-san would have loved it!'

If Tsuna was a cat like Natsu, he would have dug his nails to become one with the floor only for people to look at Hibari Kyoya still fighting the guy in the training room while going, "Well look at what the cat dragged in.".

Sasagawa had instead decided to try Counter the twister directly to test his strength, only to get wrapped up in the mini tornado that was rapidly taking up anything in its vicinity like a stressed-out binge eater.

Lambo decided to do something more productive, like sending out thunder shocks after thunder shocks, which further brought out lightning effects to the scene. Every stray shot to the triggered Gyarados only filled it with more rage as it brought out more and more twisters that joined forces.

Egged on by the former brunette's comrades, the other pokemon also decided to panickingly unleash a flurry of moves. This culminated in the twister being an abomination of nature's fury on itself. The fire moves expanded the twister, the water moves gave it density and more ammo, the ice moves made it a hailing monstrosity which would maul any passerby to death(presumably), the grass, ground and rock moves added on to the uprooted earth which was caught up in the storm- also turning the tornado into a walking pollen allergy trigger. The electric moves made the sky split apart into thunderous beams while the steel moves almost made this into a final destination movie. Poison… well… ahahaha...

It looked like the more brutal version of the final boss scene of Kyogre vs Groudon and it seemed like the Absol was more than happy to take Groudon's place. He started cutting up land around him to create an impromptu staircase to face the raging sea monster one on one.

The REEE-ing of the Gyarados also got on the prefect's nerves, so it was pretty much killing two birds with one stone.

Where was Tsuna in all this, you ask? Well, he was caught up in the tornado- what did you think a Magikarp could do in this mess?

Tsuna was simply observing the mess from the inside, pretending that all this had nothing to do with him and he was _so_ not involved in these guys' antics.

A Xatu twirled around like a top as it swiveled higher into the air, while a pikachu looked utterly surprised at its first flight towards the heavens.

He was just so done with this and decided he'd just go with the flow… until he realized that the twister was moving in the opposite direction- right out of the safari zone, and back towards Fortree city.

No! They couldn't go back. This whole trip of theirs took months because of Hibari's shenanigans… and his flopping around which meant that their travel speed was equivalent to a directionless drunken man who was trying to go home.

When they were unceremoniously dropped onto Fortree's weather station while breaking an entire wall into a rubble heap, the four of them caught the attention of the Castform who were hanging around in the one place with the weather theme.

Having witnessed a truly phenomenal weather phenomenon, they looked at the dizzy Magikarp who had flopped upwards accidentally to become the effective king of the trash heap - and proceeded to dazzle the castform, who… proceeded to form an impromptu cultish following of the Magikarp.

Tsuna just wondered why exactly did cults tend to form around him. First it was the Vongola with their benevolent saint thing spurred on by Yuni and Hayato. Then it was the Magikarps and then it was these guys.

He then looked at the determined Wobuffet who looked at the tornado like a shounen manga protagonist facing his long lasting rival and proceeded to one-punch that tornado out of existence with a counter, despite this being too ridiculous to even happen.

Then the Mareep who had taken the Wobuffet as its piggy-back ride started glowing from the shared experience (that kid was pretty much mooching off) and evolved into a Flaafy.

The issue is, this created a halo effect onto the bewildered Magikarp who looked like it had dispelled what looked like the manifestation of the rapture in its full extent.

Needless to say, the castform cult following now accepted even humans...


	6. Chapter 6

Heya guys. Hope you enjoy the story.

Now, onwards = =+

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Oh, sheeple! Show me da wae!**

The scientists in the weather station turned into gargoyles as they stood glued to the window from the second floor looking at the spectacle below them. It was certainly a sight for sore eyes- the computers were gathered up and heaped to make a makeshift throne. Jewellery, ie. the offerings of the lost lambs that visited the newly founded holy site, lay draped over the throne. Sure, they glittered; but they also scratched the electronics and woe is the idiot who sits right on top of one (cold and pointy? not a great option) or accidentally uses the spot with one as a way to hoist themselves to the scene. Not to mention the electric interference and the crushing weight the computers that lay the foundation of the throne... By the way, those computers? They were ones with high processing power and huge memory, with high power considerations- so you might want to consider what the Flaafy and the Magikarp(that the _electric_ sheep clung onto) felt.

It might have been heaven for Lambo, but it was hell for the Tsuna(and the scientists who spent virtually their entire research budget on this high end setup only for it to turn into a literal garbage dump, which might on its own be a commentary for technological trends...). The poor Magikarp was awkwardly stuck in between a rock and a hard place, with the sheep having the ability to KO the fish if he went on one of his many, many (and he meant _many_ if the memories with the temperamental 5 year old were of any indication) tantrums and the electrically charged (yep, metals are good electrical conductors. Now, put together the big picture and, yep, Tsuna's on an electric chair. Was this how Jesus felt nowadays?) throne that the new followers worshipped them from.

Now, Lambo was certainly not camera shy, and at times the kid could be an absolute diva under the spotlight- so he was definitely vocal with his wishes and ended up being the sheep that became the effective priest of the budding religion. And so, under the priest's _guidance, _the research papers that contained several decades of work became the carpet, and the tables became the floor upon which the duo would traipse(in Tsuna's case, at least. Lambo bounced and pranced...) to and fro the throne (effectively, it was a concert dias). The bookshelves became ramps and through the visionary sheep, the grass pokemon from the safari set up a mechanism to allow flowers to bloom every time the duo walked on stage. It was a high production show, but it also meant that the bookshelves were the anchor point.

The idea of a 'eco-friendly green' bookshelf may sound fantastical, but when you look at the nitty-gritty bits, you'd see its true horrific colours. The books are made from dead trees made into pulp and ultimately placed into the bookshelves- ie, its less dead cousins(Now that I think about it, libraries are pretty messed up...). Now, we add a third layer. Their living counterparts growing around them, making the surroundings a bit damp, but pretty looking and smelling. The dampness would then ultimately result in the wood rotting and the books becoming soggy- leading them to a second death at the cost of letting their living plant neighbours thrive. Oh, how cruel is nature with its survival of the fittest.

It also added that water(transpiration ,aka plant sweat, to be specific) was exposed to the electrical components, making it more likely for electrical fires and spontaneous massive electric discharge as potential ways for Tsuna to become fish barbecue.

Needless to say, Tsuna wasn't happy. He wanted to get outta there asap, given that the throne was a ticking time bomb of an execution. He would also like to believe that the scientists would like them to get out asap, given any hopes for damage control(lol). Although their weather station might become the first base which turned science into a form of religion(literally speaking. But... is this a Scientology base now?)

"Hey, Lambo... Can we go forward with our adventure already?"

"Eh?! But Tsuna-nii~ It's so awesome here!" The countless castform around them immediately circled around them in agreement. Some of them looked frantic at the prospect of them leaving.

"Oh, great messiah! Are you dissatisfied with something?! Do you find the service lacking?! Please let us know, we shall immediately go and retrieve whatever you require!"

Faced with a mob eagerly waiting for his reply while focusing on the fish's every flop and breadth, Tsuna suddenly wished that Hibari was here instead of exploring the area around them in search for a challenge. The prefect could easily quell the crowd(albeit with fear) and let them get going quickly.

"I'm... uh... looking for my companions-"

"Don't worry sire! We shall look for their noble countenance! If you could mention their names or the appearances-"

"That's the thing. I don't know that-" especially because he didn't know if these three were the only guardians that coincidentally ended up here and if they existed, what were their pokemon forms?

"But Tsuna-nii! Then even we four can't find them~"

"I'm pretty sure I'll know its them if I see them."

"Do they have any special characteristics that you can use to identify them?"

Tsuna frowned at the possibility of his guardians tracing those descriptions back to him. Mukuro would probably have his head if he called him a perverted pineapple. Physical appearances wouldn't cut it and some aspects of them seems to change here. If the carvanhas were the DC committee, then in this universe it was Tsuna who lead to Hibari and those guys meeting up and joining forces.

He looked outside and saw the Absol playing the arbiter, rounding the pokemon together to a concentrated area by using the Carvanhas to box them in. It seems like Hibari was planning on a battle royale to get the survivor to fight him one on one. There was no winning in that battle...

Plus, there were changes in their personality after ten years, like they had become cooler versions of themselves. Heck, he didn't get what the older him's thought process worked like. Essentially, they were the same- he could get that somehow. It was the same for his friends. He could get they were them, but to describe them deeply... was a bit too abstract to actually say. Would they all even be in the same region?

There was also the fact that his guardians don't seem to remember him. Those were their first meetings, given their reactions. He could see no recognition in their eyes, but they seemed to have the similar bonds to his past life. If that was the case, Hayato was going to make a ruckus if those Castforms were going to forcibly bring him here. Given that his storm was dealt pretty much AOE attacks, friendly fire included, with a penchant of getting himself included in that fire before he calmed down (like way later)...

Yep, not a great plan.

With Mukuro, it would seem like he would hijack all the Castforms to become his minions as he moved forward with his world domination plans... Chrome seems like she'd be around Mukuro, so it'll lead to the same thing.

Honestly, it seemed like only Yamamoto would be up for this by making the whole thing out to be one heck of a game. But somehow, he figured out the end result would be a spectacle with how seriously the guy took his games...

Lambo looked at the deeply pensive Magikarp and piped up.

"Hey, Tsuna-nii, do you have stuff other than finding these guys that you wanna do?"

"Well, it's not like I'm a pokemon trainer, so I can't do stuff like trade, battle or do contests with pokemon."

"That's so boring! You know what?! Lambo-san can teach you how to play! You'll have a blast!"

While the Castform started getting alarmed by the distracted Flaafy's idea, Ryohei popped in and said-

"If you don't have any concrete plans, we could search for those guys while we travel. I'm thinking of searching for my lil' sister too, so we'll be on the same boat!

Then that's settled, right?! Where's Hibari? I'll get those pokeballs so that we won't get separated during the travel!"

-and then, saying what he wanted, the Wobuffet jetted off to the manufactured bloodbath hosted by the former demon of Namimori. Apparently, the participants decided to get knocked out as quickly as possible so that they wouldn't have to fight the final boss. They weren't allowed to stay still and wait the battle royale out because the carvanhas were shrinking the battleground by inching towards the centre. Combined with their rough skin, the ones on the edge would get offed quickly if they choose to be inactive- and thus a zero sum game where none of the participants wanted the prize was born. When the final ten pokemon were left, the Wobuffet joined in, to become the only pokemon there that actually wanted to meet the Absol to which the rest willingly chose to be a meat-bag for (_anything other than fighting that Absol_). Needless to say, Hibari was not amused.

Then Lambo spoke up to get Tsuna's attention, dragging his eyes away from that train-wreck. "You probably heard all that stuff from the pokemon that belonged to the trainers. It's true for those guys, but you're missing out on the stuff that we can get to see.

So, this Lambo-sama will be your personal guide and show you a whole new world!"

It was a strange sight to see Lambo, a five year old kid from his other world look and talk to him like he was a baby, ignorant of the ways of the world. Given that only a month or two passed since he was hatched from that egg, he supposed that was so... but still!- the dissonance was palpable.

"Uh... So, what do you wanna start with?"

"Hey, so in the safari there was this one huge guy with a brown coat and hat with a huge knapsack-"

'... a hiker guy? what did that have to do with this?-'

"and he was boasting that he climbed the largest mountain... Mt. Pyre...? Yeah, that one!

But that's impossible right?! The largest one is Mt. Chimney, right?!"

"Uh... I guess so?-"

"Right?! The Pelippers mentioned that you could see Mt. Chimney all the way from Slateport! But that Bakadera was mentioning that Mt. Pyre was the biggest and that I was an idiot!-"

"Wait, by 'Bakadera', do you mean-"

The Wobuffet came back mostly unscathed from the tournament, along with a miffed looking Absol, seemingly interested in contributing to the conversation. Tsuna belatedly wondered what happened to the Safari zone now that the pokemon there were carried over by a whirlwind and ultimately heaped up as the collateral of the 'tournament'. The former boxer spoke up to add context to the drivel of the Flaafy saying,

"Lambo's talking about a Growlithe that was brought over here from that mountain as... a safari event prize. They were mentioning about not losing out to the Johto safari zone by taking inspiration from their game corner... or something like that, I don't remember all the details. Those two got into a huge rivalry- can't blame the kid, that Growlithe had a knack for picking fights everywhere and with everyone. "

The Magikarp glanced at the Absol who seemed surprisingly disinterested. The other just looked at him and snorted. A Sharpedo spoke to Tsuna,

"Tsunayoshi-san, I think that it's because Kyo-san is more interested in fighting someone strong, rather than fighting everything moving."

"...Kusakabe-san...?"

"You guessed correctly, Tsunayoshi-san. I evolved during the culling."

The Magikarp looked the shark, utterly spooked. 'What did these guys think they were doing?! It's like for them it was nothing as cute as a battle royale...'

"Listen to Lambo-san! No fair guys! I was talking first!

I want to prove that Bakadera wrong! So let's go to Mt. Pyre and measure the heights between it and Mt. Chimney!-"

"How do you even plan on doing that...?"

"I'm glad you asked that, Tsuna-nii. First, we'll catch a lotta zubats and dump it in the volcano."

'What a vicious five year old! It's like the mafia influence from my world has stuck around with him...'

"The mountain with the more zubats needed to bring the lava all the way to the top will be the taller of the two!

I first thought of simply stacking the zubats up to the top, but Bakadera was all like 'that would only measure the slope' and 'the mountain is smaller if you don't consider the lava core' and all! So this is what I came up with after thinking it over and over and over and over!"

'I don't even know where I should start with here!?'

"Wouldn't that just measure the capacity of the volcano?!-"

"Fine then! We'll just freeze the portion of the volcano so that its zubat shaped!-"

"You'd need a legendary pokemon to freeze it like that! And even still I'm not sure if you can do that. Why zubats in the first place?!"

"Because, there's a heck lot of them. What's the problem anyway? They won't die... maybe faint- But you've got enough revives to revive them all don't you?! I saw what was in your bag!"

The Absol glared at the Magikarp for that. Tsuna grumbled that their relatively peaceful journey would end with this enlightened war god and muttered,

"Aren't there other ways? Like putting markers and tallying them."

"Oh that's a good idea. So you'll volunteer for that if the zubat plan fails right? I'm just gonna count the number of zubats directly on each level."

'Why is he always trying to barbecue me?! Was he planning on stacking those zubats like sardines or something?!

...Actually, wasn't there a very simple way to measure stuff like this...? I kinda remember Reborn saying something about that. Trig-'

Before he could delve deeper into that thought, he saw the Wobuffet chuck a pokeball in a way that ricocheted off him and fell back on him. Without giving the fish time to process the pain at his forehead, he saw the pokeball figuratively gobble the Wobuffet up. In a few seconds, it seemed that he caught his sun guardian.

Tsuna looked on as Ryohei popped up from the pokeball and said, "So, what's actually inside there...?"

But before he could get the answer to the question that always piqued his curiosity, the Flaafy flailed around shrieking,

"No! I don't want this pokeball! If I'm getting into one, I want one that fits the great me! I want a masterball not a pokeball!"


End file.
